Down the Block There's a Riot
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"Down the Block There's a Riot" is the 144th episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It is the tenth episode of the show's seventh season and was broadcast on December 12, 2010.
Plot
Lynette learns that Paul is officially opening the halfway house and is receiving an award from the mayor for doing so. She gathers the neighborhood to start a protest during the mayor's award speech. Keith decides to propose to Bree, but Bree says she’s not ready and they compromise on Keith moving in. As he is packing his things, Richard (Keith’s father) convinces him that Bree doesn’t care for him. Keith starts to doubt Bree and his relationship and decides to not move in. On the day of the protest Richard (who is in love with Bree) asks to do some landscaping chores but makes a move on Bree and she forces him out. Bree tells Keith about this and in the result of his anger before Richard leaves he starts a fistfight with Richard.
Gaby is still trying to cope with her biological daughter, Grace, leaving her forever causing Juanita to become suspicious. Gaby seeks help from Lynette and she suggests that Gaby write a letter to Grace that would never be sent. Gaby does so, but Juanita discovers it and reads it causing her to find out that Grace is Gaby's daughter and she is not. Juanita flees the house into the streets of the protest, causing her to get lost in the hundreds of people. She crawls into Bob and Lee's car who are fleeing Wisteria Lane since the neighborhood is angry with them for selling their house to Paul (due to Paul's lying about another neighbor selling to him).
As Richard and Keith are fighting a few neighbors spot them and mistake Keith to be an ex-con. They start to fight with Keith and in a rush to defend her boyfriend, Bree fires a gunshot into the air hoping it will break up the fight. It only makes matters worse and all the people on the street start a riot and stampede.
Susan gets knocked over and gets injured from people stepping on her and falls unconscious.
Meanwhile, as Bob and Lee are trying to escape the riot and are unaware of Juanita being in the backseat, people try to tip over and break the windows of the car. Juanita reveals herself and Bob and Lee climb into the backseat trying to comfort her as she is shrieking for help. Gaby finally catches sight of Juanita in the backseat and tries to rush to her aid, but before she gets there, a crazy neighbor uses a baseball bat to completely shatter the backseat window. Gaby rips the man off, while Carlos comes and pushes aside several rioters and they both bring Juanita home. Bob successfully escapes the car and tries to help Lee escape, but the neighbors are repeatedly punching and hitting Lee. One neighbor even threw an empty wine bottle at Lee's head. Lynette quickly runs to Lee's aid and he successfully escapes injured.
Lynette blames and scolds Paul for starting this whole mess and Paul responds by saying: "Me? Those are your friends out there, Lynette! The solid citizens of Fairview! Tell me again why you think they're better than a bunch of ex-cons.".
The riot is exactly what Paul Young wanted to happen. At the end of the episode, when the riot is finally over, while walking down the street of Wisteria Lane, he is shot by an unknown assailant, knowing it was revenge.
Reception
On its original broadcast on ABC, the episode scored 11.598 million of viewers and achieved a 3.6 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic.[1] With the DVR Rating, this episode is up 1.8 in million of viewers (rising to a total of 13.5 million of viewers) and it's up 0.8 in the adults 18-49 demographic (rising to a total of a 4.4 rating).[2]
In 2015, Gavin Hetherington reviewed all five disaster episodes of the show, including Down the Block There's a Riot.[3] Gavin reviewed the episode favourably amongst the other disaster episodes, placing it third out of five.
Notes
- The episode title comes from the lyrics of the song "What More Do I Need?" from the Stephen Sondheim musical Saturday Night.[4]
- Darcy Rose Byrnes (Penny Scavo) does not appear and is not credited.
International titles
- Arabic: Protest (Protest)
- Finnish: Kahakka kadulla (A Fight on the Street)
- German: Der Aufstand (The Riot)
- Italian: Rivolta di quartiere (Neighborhood Revolt)
- French: Les gens pas comme il faut (Wrong people)
- Lithuanian: Riaušės (Riot)
References
- ^ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/12/14/sunday-final-ratings-desperate-housewives-adjusted-up-the-simpsons-down-plus-amazing-race-undercover-boss-and-csi-miami/75412/
- ^ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/12/27/live7-dvr-ratings-modern-family-fringe-hawaii-five-0-top-weeks-rankings/76645/
- ^ Hetherington, Gavin (March 12, 2015). "Throwback Thursday - Desperate Housewives - The Disaster Episodes - Review". SpoilerTV. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
- ^ "What More Do I Need?" lyrics